Magic Mouse Problem
 

I run a Magic Mouse on a dual-core G5/2.3 (which still works so well I cannot bring myself to spring for an iMac). There seems to be a rather annoying change in its behavior of late: when the Mac goes to sleep, the MM turns off which means that when I wake the machine, the mouse is dead until I turn the MM off, then on again and wait for Blue Tooth to do its thing. This is speeded somewhat by starting the Mouse Pref Pane, but still a nuisance. Am I alone with this problem or has Apple made some changes in the last update to save the MM batteries?

I have a completely different system than you — MacBook Pro running 10.6.6 — and I've seen nothing like you've been experiencing. Since Apple hasn't released any updates for the Mighty Mouse or for your OS in quite a while, I can't imagine it's something Apple has done to cause this.

First thing I would try is re-pairing the Mighty Mouse. If that fails, I'd go for deleting Bluetooth preferences (or moving them to the Desktop and restarting/logging out as necessary). On my system, those files show as follows:

In ~/Library/Preferences: com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist

In ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost: com.apple.Bluetooth.0017f2d1d8a1.plist (your string of numbers and letters would presumably be different)

In /Library/Preferences: com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

I guess there's a chance the issue is tied to power management preferences, but I'd try the above first.

Thanks, NaOH -- I'll play around.

Fixed it by re-pairing the mouse.

Slightly different problem:
 

My Magic Mouse recently stopped tracking - moving the cursor around. Scrolling and swiping are unaffected.

I have a new MM, which works fine???

I took the original MM back to the Authorised Reseller where I bought it and, embarrassingly, they paired it to an iMac and it worked fine. Got it home and it worked fine...briefly, then stopped tracking again.

All my machines that are not boxed up, are on 10.6.6. Is there MM firmware that may need updated? I am completely stumped. N.B: Tried deleting the Preferences, as suggested above, but no difference.

new batteries?

Tried new batts. Still no good. Cleaned the lens too.

Confused.

Have you tried deleting the Bluetooth preferences, restarting, then re-pairing the mouse?

Sorry, yes, I forgot so say that I tried that after first reading the thread.

I just don't get why it worked in the shop and only scrolling and clicking work at home.

I may try it with another Mac well away from this desk, to see if there is any kind of interference, although I would have thought that that would impact the new MM, too, no??

How about trying to pair the mouse in a new user account on the computer?

Thanks - just tried it with the same result.

My 11 MBA is the next test.

I do think it's good that you test on other machines, but I'm also wondering if you should check the Console logs for any Bluetooth-related messages. Unfortunately, I'm almost useless at deciphering log messages, but someone else around here would probably be able to help.

Here's what I got:

19/01/2011 16:05:37 MagicPrefs[689] Number of devices is zero.
19/01/2011 16:05:37 MagicPrefs[689] Device not available yet while attempting to create, retrying in 1 sec..
19/01/2011 16:05:38 MagicPrefs[689] Event tap created 0x101880d20

"Seems" fairly innocuous, but what do I know?

MagicPrefs is something else, though Might Mouse related. Have you tried disabling that third-party sopftware to see if it's somehow impacting your system?

Well, I paired the MM with my new 11" MBA last night and still no tracking. The MBA is "out of the box" in terms of setup, so is it still worth disabling all the S/w on the old MBP?

Thanks for the input here.
Gavin

I'm at a loss. The one thing I'm wondering is if there's anything near your computer(s) that could be causing interference. Worth a try, if so, but I'm reaching here.

Indeed, but why would it affect an "older" MM and not the new one?

I am surrounded by an internet router, a TV and Cable TV input box, an overhead fan, a printer, a scanner and a desk light. Oh, and an iPhone.

Easier than dismantling that lot will be to take the MBA 11" out to a cafe/similar and see if I can get a result there. Or maybe with someone else's computer.

I'll post back with any result.

Cheers,

Gavin

And if the MBA and mouse don't pair in a cafe, you may want to try heading from there to your Apple reseller and showing them what you're seeing.

Yep. I felt enough of a chump when they paired it with an iMac the last time though...
:-)

I would have felt that way, too. If you have to go back, maybe try ye olde, "Fellow chump NaOH said I should come here." Or maybe just hope someone else is working if you go back in.

I'm about to buy a Magic Mouse today but i think I have to rethink about it

I wouldn't hesitate.

Despite the issues I have had with that mouse, I truly believe I just have a rogue - no mass-manufacturing process can be 100% perfect. I have another that is absolutely fine - get one and you will wonder how you ever managed without it - bye-bye Carpal Tunnel problems, too.

I agree with GavinBKK -- I have other mice that don't give me any grief but I still much prefer the Magic Mouse. What happens to mine (that started this thread) is that when my machine sleeps for a while (like overnight) the mouse turns off. That just requires starting it again; a minor PITA.

I know nothing about this, but I think it's possible that there might be embedded firmware in the MM itself (as opposed to on the Mac) and if so, it's possible that the older MM might have different firmware.

I (who also know nothing about this) agree, Hayne. I've always assumed that it's some battery saving scheme embedded in the mouse (and mine's an old one) -- the failure is that although the mouse remains connected**, it doesn't wake up unless you turn it off and on again which disconnects it and re connects it.

** I assume that's so because when I turn it off (the green light is off and the mouse unresponsive at that point) the Mac announces that it's lost the connection so Bluetooth was still functioning.

i just bought a magic mouse to replace a dying logitech mouse. the user experience is definitely much better & i am very happy with it - EXCEPT for the battery life !

i use rechargeable batteries ( i bought a new set of Sony 2500 mAH so i had good batteries from the go )

whereas the logitech gave me about 3-4 months between recharges, im getting 7 days max with the MM, before the need for a recharge.

is this normal for this mouse ? it seems very limited. or is it possible that i have a faulty MM ?

Agree -- MM battery life is lousy. I change mine about once a week (whether they need it or not); current set into the charger, fresh set into the mouse. I even wrote a little AppleScript application to measure it if the MM gets flakey. I saved it as an application and changed its Icon (in the application bundle) to a picture of a MM.

thanks NovaScotian for your feedback. lm glad to know that its not faulty, my apple store is 150Kms away & is difficult to get to.

strange thing is that when its fully charged it never shows more than 78% full and the batteries die when the charge gets down to about 28%. seems a shame that apple haven't sorted this one better, one would think that they would be able to calibrate it more accurately.

having said that - the MM is a real pleasure to use.

Without being "scientific" about it, I have observed that the system's evaluation of battery strength is strongly dependent on the type of battery and possibly on the charger, too. I'm using Energizer Rechargeables in an old Radio Shack fast charger, and like you find their range of charge is between 78 and 28 percent. Comparing the discharge curves of several battery technologies with conventional batteries, however, reveals that they really don't match up and the system must assume something.

There are several different points being made in this discussion, one of which is battery life. I would suggest if battery life is the problem and rechargeable batteries are being used, that operation with a fresh set of heavy-duty dry-cells would help determine might the problem be with the rechargeable batteries or the charger. I found a helpful link to rechargeable AA types to be:
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/ReduceW...nfo.htm#Quirks

That's a worth-while read, Wendell. Thanks. Purely by chance, it turns out I'm doing the right things.

Since I never solved the problem in the original post (of the mouse turning itself off but remaining connected) I wrote this AppleScript which uses Frederik Seiffert's "blueutil":

If I wake the machine and it's "mouseless", I use a Keyboard Maestro hot key to toggle Bluetooth and get a brisk response. I could have simply set up an Off - Pause - On sequence too, but liked the flexibility of being able to change state even though it requires two hot key presses.

I discovered the "fix" for this problem -- leave the battery cover off.